"After a more than 500-day siege, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) the paramilitary group at war with Sudan's army have taken control of el-Fasher, and by extension, the entire region of Darfur. The fall of the city marks a turning point in Sudan's brutal war and has sparked warnings of a repeat of the Darfur genocide two decades ago. The United Nations estimates around 200,000 civilians were trapped in el-Fasher when the army withdrew."
"The RSF and allied Arab militias descended from the notorious Janjaweed now control all of Darfur, a vast western region already scarred by decades of ethnic violence. Videos circulating online, which NPR has not independently verified, appear to show RSF fighters killing hospital patients and civilians while shouting racial slurs. Sudanese analyst Kholood Khair says the violence is not just a continuation of the civil war but of genocide. "The genocide we saw twenty years ago is actually still continuing," she said."
After a more than 500-day siege, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured el-Fasher and now control all of Darfur. The United Nations estimates about 200,000 civilians were trapped in el-Fasher when the army withdrew. Advocacy groups report many civilians are being systematically killed. Muhammad Khamis Duda, a spokesperson for the Zamzam displacement camp who documented the siege, was killed after surviving an April RSF attack that slaughtered hundreds; he had refused to leave. Videos circulating online appear to show RSF fighters killing hospital patients and civilians while shouting racial slurs. A Sudanese analyst says the violence amounts to ongoing genocide. Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab found satellite evidence of mass graves and house-to-house killings.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]